Suiting Up
SUITING UP
CAM
I froze staring at my image in the mirror, reveling in the images of the night before. Rachel had felt safe enough with me to tell me about what she called a “hang up”, and she felt so good in my arms while she was doing so. She fit next to me like we were the last two pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle that had taken years to solve. I loved it when she fell asleep on me, her tiny, adorable snores giving her away. She hadn’t even stirred when I’d drawn her into my arms and carried her to her bed.
I loved being in her house too—the smell, the warmth, how much it felt like her. It was like coming home, and I didn’t want to leave, but it wouldn’t have been appropriate to sleep on the couch, especially since I wanted to curl up next to her in the bedroom.
“Bro!” Zach snapped his fingers in front of my eyes, breaking my trance. “Where’d you go?”
“Uh, nowhere.” I swatted his hand out of my face.
It was our first tux fitting at Balani Custom Suits. Matt and Emily were back east visiting her parents, so it was just Foster, Zach, and me.
“Yeah,” Foster chimed in. “What’s your deal today? You’ve been more quiet than usual.”
“No reason,” I said, spreading my arms wide so the tailor could start my measurements.
Foster and Zach exchanged glances.
“So, how’s it going with Rachel?” Foster asked.
“Fine,” I said, leaving my arms raised while the tailor measured my waist.
“Fine? That’s all you have to say?” Zach asked.
Foster flipped through some suits on the rack. “He’s working up the courage to ask her out on a date.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You mean you haven’t done that yet?” Zach asked.
Foster flattened his lips. “Yes, he has. He took her to the Cayman Islands to his cousin’s wedding. That’s a date.”
“That was not a date,” I protested. “We wrote that specifically in our rules. She was my plus one for Jill’s wedding as a friend, that’s all.”
“You two are the only ones who think you are just friends,” Foster said, emphasizing ‘just friends’ with air quotes.
“Haven’t you two, you know …” Zach made a pumping motion with his fist.
My brows drew together. “No, and if we had, I wouldn’t be discussing it with you assholes.”
Zach stood with his hands on his hips while the tailor measured his inseam. “Well, get on with it already so we can live our lives. Foss is right, you and Rachel are the only ones who think you shouldn’t be a couple.”
I chuckled. “I didn’t realize we were holding things up for your life, Zach.”
“You are. If you don’t ask her out, I’m finally going to. I’ve been in love with that girl for years.”
My shoulders tensed at the thought of Zach asking Rachel out. “How thoughtful of you to let me go first,” I said.
“I know,” Zach said. “I am very thoughtful.”
Foster slid a sample navy suit coat on and straightened it. “Relax, Cam. Just take her to dinner. Text her with a time, place, and location. Pick her up, share a meal, and drop her off. It’s not that hard.”
“Oh, it is hard when Rachel’s in the room,” Zach said, winking at himself in the mirror.
“Dude!” Foster said with a frown.
“That’s enough about Rachel.” I punched him in the arm and pointed at him. “Don’t be gross.”
“Just get on that soon, dude” Zach said, pulling his sample jacket on. “You’re a good man, Cam. You’d be good for Rache after all she’s been through.”
I smiled at Zach. He was crass, sometimes lewd and rude, but he was a good friend and had been since high school. He was a wild land firefighter and almost lost his life fighting a bad blaze a few years ago, which made me appreciate my time with him even more.
I patted him on the back. “Thanks, man.”
“You should text her right now,” Foster chimed in.
“I will,” I said, slipping my arms into my suit sleeves.
“Where’s your phone?” Foster insisted.
“In my pocket,” I said, patting my cargo shorts.
Zach plunged his hand in and snatched my phone. He turned it to my face, which unlocked it.
“Give me that,” I insisted.
“Bro, look,” Zach said. “She already called you.”
“What?”
“Yeah, thirty minutes ago.”
I grabbed my phone from him and listened to her voicemail, my pulse thrumming in my ears the entire time.
“Take her to that new restaurant on Main. Sel or something,” Foster said.
I stared at my phone, my hands almost shaking.
“Do it!” Zach shouted.
Finally, I started to type, thankful that the salesman pulled Zach and Foster away for a second.
Hey, sorry I missed you. Foster, Zach, and I are at our tux fitting
I paused, my fingers hovering over the keys. Why couldn’t I do this?
Because there are rules in place for a reason, and if we keep breaking them, they’ll mean nothing. I didn’t want to dip my toe in these waters if I couldn’t swim to shore. Rachel still believed in love; she wanted to get married and do all the couple things. Why start a full-on relationship with her if I couldn’t give her all that?
I finished my text by saying: Call you back in a bit.
Moments later my phone buzzed in my pocket.
Kicklighter
Great, because I need you.
I need you . I kept reading that line over and over. Why did that statement from her cause sonic heart palpitations in my chest? These are the times when I wished I could talk to Roman. He would tell me if it was a heart attack or just Rachel Kicklighter’s hold on me.
Must be serious.
Kicklighter
It is. I was invited to a retirement party. It’s going to be agony. Go with me?
You’re really selling it.
Kicklighter
Call me when you can, Grumpy.
When I put my phone away, my face was still beaming, and I glanced up to find Foster and Zach staring at me with their arms folded across their chests.
“Look at him,” Foster said.
Zach waggled his eyebrows. “Wow, never seen that.”
“It’s alarming,” Foster added.
“I know,” Zach replied. “So lovesick. Keep it together, bro. You’re getting it all over us.”
“Fuck off,” I grinned. “So are these the ones?” I stood in line with them, and we all preened in the large three-section mirror, shifting in our jackets.
“I think so,” Foster said.
“Let’s get a pic so I can send it to Matt to harass him for not being here,” Zach said, extending his phone. We all smiled above our extended middle fingers.
The appointment finished with confirming our pickup date and paying the deposit, and then the three of us filtered out into the oven of the parking lot. We lingered only long enough to shake hands before we vaporized into dust.
“Getting closer to the big day,” I said, patting Foster on the back.
Foster eased into the driver’s seat of his truck. “Yep. Can’t wait. Let me know how your date goes, yeah?”
“Will do.”
I waved to Zach and climbed into the Rubicon. I eased onto the hot leather seat that had been baking in the sun and called Rachel on the way to Robin and Raven. She answered the phone with an excited “Hi!” and a lightness spread through me.
“So you’re inviting me to an agonizing retirement party?” I asked.
She giggled. “I know.”
“I took you to a tropical island, for Christ’s sake.”
“If it helps, there will be punch there.”
“Sold. That’s all I needed. Details?” I asked.
“Friday evening, El Chorro. 5 p.m.”
“Wow, thank goodness it’s at 5 p.m. I can be in bed by six.”
Her laugh filled my car as I came to a stoplight. “Hey, the retiree is eighty, so that’s perfect for her.”
“And who is this lovely person?”
“Her name is Beverly Warren. She and her husband lived next door when I was growing up. I spent more time over at Mrs. Warren’s than my house. and that’s the good news of this scenario.”
“Oh? Is there bad news?”
“Mrs. Warren happens to be friends with a bunch of sweet ladies who always want to set me up with their sons.”
“That sounds serious,” I said. “And will these sons be in attendance?”
“Some of them might be. Oh and there will be plenty of ladies there who’ll want to pounce on you.”
“Are you trying to talk me out of going? If so, it’s working.”
“Absolutely not. We will just have to behave more like a couple to make it seem like we’re not available.”
“Always trying to break the rules aren’t you, Kicklighter?”
She giggled again. “Listen, we need to hold hands more and you should kiss me somewhere from time to time.”
“Somewhere?”
“I mean anywhere … I mean …” she said, pausing for a second. She said something to another woman whose voice floated into the background. “Sorry. I’m at the store. Carol says hi.”
My imagination took off wandering around the different parts of her body, and I had to slam on my brakes so I didn’t rear-end the car in front of me when it stopped at a light. “Tell Carol hi. How about some pecks on the cheek and some light handholding?”
“Perfect,” she said. “Also, we should whisper sweet nothings in each other’s ears and look like we like each other.”
I released an overly dramatic sigh. “If we must. Wait, sweet nothings? Are you sure you’re not the eighty-year-old retiree?”
“I might be. See you Friday.”